Online shopping and social media networks have grown dramatically in the past several years. Online shopping is currently performed primarily by searching for a specific item at the website of an entity that may sell such an item, such as a retail store, or a brand or designer that produces the product sought. There are shopping oriented search engines that allow users to search across multiple stores or designers, as well as some websites that allow for comparison of products across multiple sources.
Some online shopping systems have integrated, to a limited degree, social media features into search engines by, for example, allowing a user to select a product suggested, or “liked,” by colleagues, and by providing a user with search results indicating potential purchase locations for that product, or a general search for related products. Search results are generally either for purchase locations of the specific product or for similar products across multiple brands. Users of online shopping systems may prefer to shop or browse in a social environment and be presented with products from the same brand or designer as a product selected.
Alternatively, some online shopping systems have integrated, to a limited degree, search engines into social media platforms by, for example, allowing users to suggest, or “like” products, or by allowing users to upload images of themselves using products suggested. Once uploaded, many of the same limitations discussed above apply, making it difficult to search for similar products from an identical brand or designer as a product shown in a specified image.
Some online shopping systems are sponsored or supported by specific brands or designers, and require participating designers or sources to actively implement the system for the purposes of integration. Other systems require images of products to be tagged by designers or brands with details of the product according to a specified rubric. In some shopping systems requiring participation, brands or designers are incentivized to participate by being provided with an active style conscious audience for their brand. Such a website may have substantial trouble during a startup stage when few users are participating and when a brand or designer does not see significant potential exposure.
There is a need for a website that can provide users with images of products that a user can select for the purpose of shopping so that when a user selects a product, the user can be shown similar products from the same brand or designer as the brand or designer of the original product. There is a further need for such a system that does not require the participation of the designer or brand of the products being illustrated and searched for. There is a further need for a website allowing users to upload and prepare images for providing to other users so that products shown in those images can be selected for searching.